Salma Hayek Touched My Face and Then Gave Me All Her Skin Care Secrets

Something magical happened on Friday I met with Salma Hayek to talk about the latest products in her Nuance beauty line. You see, thanks to a freak trip down some stairs I am currently rocking a black eye and a few stitches on my brow bone. And the moment Hayek saw the damage, she kicked off her platform heels, grabbed my hand, and led me into the bathroom to apply her foundation to my skin.

Having one of the most beautiful people who ever existed massage your face is a special experience that I can't exactly describe other than to say I may now be immortal. And I do have to say her Flawless Finish Liquid Foundation ($14.99, cvs.com) really did cover the bruising well, even though Hayek insisted she "didn't blend it the best." Then after she was done and I felt so bonded to her I was about to offer to be her blood sister, we began talking about her makeup and skin care routine. Read on to find out what secrets she spilled.

Lipstick: It seems like you're so good with makeup. How did you really learn? Were you just always interested in makeup and you picked it up on sets?

Hayek: No, I always loved makeup. I guess I really liked to paint. I didn't discover that until later, but I was doing makeup when I was 14. I use to make people up, like older friends, or cousins, and I remember they use to come to my house for special occasions, and when I started out, I used to do the makeup of the girls in my acting class that were doing their head shots. I love it. I love makeup.

Lipstick Now that you have your own line, what do you find is the most fun for you? Is it the development? Is it coming up with colors?

Hayek: It's not the makeup. It's the creams. [Being in] the lab. That's what really excites me the most. Funny, but it was not the makeup.

Lipstick: Right. Because there's science there.

Hayek: Yes! It was the creams. Yes! I'm very proud of the AM/PM Anti-Aging Super Cream ($19.99, cvs.com). I told the developers the ingredients they needed to put in it. They were shocked because they didn't know about them. They actually asked, "Does she have a degree on chemistry or something? How does she know? I mean, we've never heard of these." It's because my grandmother, she was a genius with it. I learned a lot about a lot of ingredients that are native to Mexico, and then in my travels I started finding out about other ones, because I know in the markets you can always find things, and you ask around. The truth is that we have one ingredient in the line that nobody else has; that is tepezcohuite and it's used in Mexico for burn victims. It regenerates the skin like nothing else. The development of the creams was fascinating, and then, when we finally got this one, I said, "OK, now I have to test it." The 13-hour flight back to Paris, that's how I test my creams. We have now a whole platform on the AM/PM line, where we have a cleanser, an eye cream. The best one now is the serum (Nourish & Renew Glow Facial Oil, 21.99, cvs.com). The serum is incredible.

Lipstick: Is that what you use?

Hayek: It depends, you know, like this serum for the night is incredible, but sometimes, you know, I believe that sometimes it's good at night to do not a lot of [skin care products]. I will tell you why: Your skin, it's going to do an amazing job. It's going to repair itself. When I don't sleep, like now, I need all of it. But otherwise it's going to repair itself, and so, the most important thing is to clean it super well. Then the secret is never to wash it in the morning.

Lipstick: Do you just rinse your face in the morning?

Hayek: I rinse it. Sometimes I put rosewater. Sometimes not. Sometimes straight to the cream. You have to see how the skin feels every day. Sometimes I go straight to the cream. But not right when I wake up. In the morning your skin, it's perfectly balanced, the pH. Sometimes I have breakfast first and then take care of my skin.

Lipstick: Do you feel like having the line has sort of informed how you, yourself think about beauty and your own beauty routine?

Hayek: I think that my beauty routine, and how I see beauty is from what I've learned from my grandmother. It made me realize that there are things that were not out there because [most brands] go by trends. There are things that are really good that are pushed to the side just because they're trying too hard to sell you the new thing to always create some kind of event. But this is a personal line based on what women need. Like, now my hair, I have to dye it and you need masks. Now we have the masks because I needed them. I started to dye my hair, and I said, "Wait a minute. We're missing some products in the line." And so we made them.